For the record, this isn't the first time weird crap has happened at the Texas State Fair. When I was a kid, in 1979, the overhead gondola thingy snapped:

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Saturday, October 21, 1979 - On the Swiss Sky Ride at the Texas State Fair, two gondola cars dropped 85 feet from the ride's cable to the ground. One man was killed, a 20-year-old woman was left a quadriplegic, and 17 other riders were injured. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission concluded that the ride's operators knew of defects in the ride, but failed to report them. The woman won a $3.1 million settlement on the basis that the ride had been operated negligently in high winds.